The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 016

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)“Busy?” Gwyn slowed to a stop. As much as she hated the daisies, turning her back on them when they’d a taste for blood was only foolishness.

The Q.P.D. nodded, her grin curling all the way across her face and bleeding into her sepals. “We know how you got there,” she said, vicious laughter crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” Gwyn said, although she had a sinking feeling that she did. Still, it was impossible. There were no daisy beds near the croquet course.

The Q.P.D. turned up her nose. “Do you hear that, girls? The child expects us to believe her tales of innocence and no wrong doing, as though the clover would lie!”

“Clover—“ Her stomach twisted with the memory of sugared pear. Of course there had been clover, but why had it turned on her?

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 015

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)Gwyn landed with a bone rattling thump next to a manicured rose tree cut into the shape of a heart.

She only had enough time to get her bearings—and slip her gloves back on—before something small, reddish-brown, and spiky zoomed past her, missing her nose by the narrowest of margins.

Though it was foolish, she lay in place for a moment to catch her breath and reorient herself to a world dulled by gloves until it had gone barren of all magic.

All magic, of course, but the—

“What are you doing?” the Ruby Queen shrilled, mincing toward her with the grace of a poppy and the teeth of a venus fly trap. She had one of the servants propped up against her shoulder like a parasol and her crown pushed slightly back from her forehead.

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Mira Morganstein: The Pink Lemonade Club 014

The Pink Lemonade Club (Episode One)A smile crept into the corners of Mira’s lips. Did this mean that she only had one more year to go with the Pink Lemonade Brigade? In general, she had nothing against the elderly, but there had always been something different—off—with the old ladies in the Pink Lemonade Brigade. Something that belied the way they looked and hinted at mystery.

Secrets.

Their eyes were too bright, too knowing, and they never came all at once. Instead, they seemed to prefer to visit one at a time over the course of a week or so every year. Most of them had long hair they twisted up into intricate knots that were often hidden by the ridiculously large floppy hats with flowers stuck round the bands they always wore.Read More


The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 014

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)Gwyn wasn’t ready to leave the Otherwhere quite yet, she never was, but the binding pulling her back to the garden was getting stronger now. She rubbed her hand against her ribs where it pinched her. “I guess.”

She reached forward to dive into her window, but Lyra put a hand out to stop her.

“Before you ever go through a door you’ve made, you need to be sure that it can bear you. Put your hands along the edges,” Lyra positioned her hands for her, “and strengthen it first. That’s important.”

“Strengthen it how?” Along with the delight and wonder came a spark of impatience. She’d lived in the garden her whole life, had paid strict attention to everything her parents did when they visited, and she’d witnessed enough of Robin’s pranks to know that magic should be easier than this.

“The same way you created it. Focus. Think. Believe.”Read More


Mira Morganstein: The Pink Lemonade Club 013

The Pink Lemonade Club (Episode One)The meeting was worse than Mira could have imagined.

Rather than one pair of bright, inquisitive eyes studying her inside and out, she had twelve of them to contend with. Her mother didn’t count, mostly because of the worry line etched between her brows and the way her eyes jumped from one person to the next without ever seeming to find exactly what they were looking for.

If her mother was worried, well, that said something.

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